How to Kill Your Family by Bella Mackie
Serial Killer keeps it in the family. 7 family members were murdered and there was one sorta accidental death….. Hmmm. Would it be understated to say that this is how you spell dysfunctional family?
Our antihero’s name, Grace, is a misnomer. Grace lies nowhere within the essence of our murderess is. She is crass. I don’t like her. I feel no empathy for her. Aspiring to be a generous reader, I will be nice and give her the benefit of the doubt: she is psycho. While I do not believe an entire generation can be psycho, her persona brings to mind, Gen Z. I am in trouble now! Yikes!
I have to commend Bella Mackie for her prose, totally trashing the priorities and assumptions of that demographic. Grace must be Gen Z. First, her characters are two-dimensional and devoid of any interpersonal skills. Secondly, it is obvious the lives they lead are devoid of any genuine creativity; myopic to the point of being self-incarcerated. Thirdly, they blindly follow whatever the current ‘in’ thing is. Importantly, they rarely take a stance that might separate them from their group think social order. Ugh. Boring. The plot is boring and predictable.
The book, and rightly so, has no real character development. How does one have character development when no third dimension exists? It reminds me of a recent A.I. book I read recently. The reader is hard-pressed to find one, maybe two redeeming traits in the characters. Maybe Grace’s mother was somewhat relatable. But she was of another generation and was dead long before the story began.
Some readers feel entertained and find the book humorous. Again, ugh! It is pathetic. I do not believe I found an original thought lurking between the front and back covers. Now, the dialogue worked very hard, too hard, to be witty. Sarcasm dripped like syrup from maple trees in autumn. Talk about ‘judgy!’ Grace’s forked tongue zapped everything within its reach. No one and no inanimate object remained unscathed.
I found how she went about her murders simplistic, naïve, and not credible. But for some reason or another, I kept reading. I really cannot put my finger on exactly why I kept reading. Curiosity, perhaps. I suppose I must have been hoping there might be some redemption somewhere. However, the twist at the end was excellent. That must be why I kept reading. Maybe the GRACE was in that I did indeed finish the book, happy to have read to the very end.